This is the last week for the Shelby County Players’ performance of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST. Performances are tonight (Friday) and Saturday at 7:30pm. The final performance of the run will be Sunday October 7th at 2pm. We hope to see you at one of these performances. You will be glad you attended!

(Editor’s Note: Our last email we discussed the author of the original book for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as Ken Kelsey. This was a ploy to see how many people read these emails closely. Within 30 minutes we received a comment that we spelled the name wrong…it should be Ken Kesey. That patron was correct. But it didn’t stop there. Another said we left the apostrophe out of “Cuckoo’s” on the marquee. When asked, our volunteer who takes care of the marquee said “I am a Rose-Hulman mechanical engineer, not an English major.” The mistake was corrected)

On Monday night October 8th the J. KENNETH SELF BOYS & GIRLS CLUB will be holding its 2018 football awards program at the Strand. This year’s event will be recognizing 113 players and 55 adult coaches and volunteers from the 2018 program. Six teams ranging from grades Kindergarten through 6 competed against other travel programs from central Indiana, playing 41 games over the course of a three-month period. Awards will be presented to each grade’s Outstanding Offensive Player, Defensive Player, Most Improved and Mental Attitude. This was the Boys & Girls Club’s 30th season providing youth football for the Shelbyville community. The event is free and starts at 6:30pm.

Across the parking lot, GIRLS INC will be presenting at our October Community Treasure Series Lecture on Wednesday October 10th. The program starts at 7pm and is free.

We finish out the week with a private event on Friday and BOB ZANY on Saturday October 13th.

In 1977, at the tender age of fifteen, BOB ZANY on the infamous Gong Show. Halfway through his stand-up routine, which he read from a piece of paper, he was pulled off the stage by a man dressed like a nun wielding a net. Eleven years later, he made a triumphant return as a celebrity judge.

This marked the first of over 100 appearances on national television. In 1981, while attending Mt. San Antonio College, he applied for a job as a newscaster at the campus radio station but was turned down. Later that year, he auditioned for the owner of The Ice House in Pasadena. The audition took place in the middle of the afternoon in a club that seats 300. From the only occupied chair came the voice of the owner, “You’re not ready”. Zany looked around the empty showroom and said “Neither is your club!”

Undaunted, he talked the owner into letting him produce his own show so he could have the stage time, and for the owner, an audience. The result was The Bob Zany Show featuring such newcomers as Garry Shandling, Yakov Smirnoff, Robert Wuhl, Kevin Nealon, and Nia Peeples. After one show, Bob was approached by Frazier Smith, the host of a top-rated radio show on KLOS/LA. After a short time doing guest spots on Frazier’s show, Zany was hired by KLOS as a personality with his own show on Saturday mornings.

Other accomplishments include the creation of Bob Zany’s Comedy Outlets, with over 50 locations throughout California and Nevada; a comedy album “Hi Home, I’m Honey”, on Laff Records; a soon-to-be published diet scrapbook, “Laugh at Fat, Bay-bee!”, and the highlight of his career to date, being hired by his idol, Steve Martin, to appear on George Burns’ Comedy Week.

Bob will perform at 8pm on Saturday October 13, 2018 at the Strand Theatre. Tickets are still available online or at Mickey’s T-Mart (cash or check only)

The Strand and community lost a wonderful supporter. William “Bill” English passed away this week. Bill and Carolyn English were staunch supporters and consistent patrons in the early years of the Strand. They provided us with needed words of encouragement, patronage at our events, and support in many other ways. The Strand sends our condolences to Bill’s family.

This week we booked another October event. On Sunday, yes Sunday, October 21st comedian SAMUEL J. COMROE will perform at the Strand. Tickets are only available online or at the door. Samuel J. Comroe, a Los Angeles native, is a stand-up comedian who performs at over 100 clubs and colleges annually. He made his TV debut on TBS’ Conan, BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood with Kevin Hart and he’s a contestant on the current season of America’s Got Talent.. In addition to his TV appearances Sam was recently featured on All Def Digital’s Comedy Originals. He is also the winner of Ricky Gervais’ Comedy Competition, The San Francisco Comedy Competition, and has over 40,000 subscribers on his Youtube Channel. His comedy is made up of the trials and tribulations of living with Tourette’s Syndrome since being diagnosed at age six and observational material based on his life experiences. The performance starts at 7:00pm.

TERRY LEE and the ROCKABOOGIE BAND tickets are now available! You can get yours at Mickey’s T-Mart (cash or check only) or online at BrownPaperTickets.com. The concert is Saturday October 20th at 7:30pm.

We are looking forward to our October events. Take a look at the list to your left. Please note the Shelby County Arts Fest Choir Concert has moved to October 25th.

This email is being written early in the week. We have been told by the contractor that the road work in front of the Strand should be done shortly! We met to discuss parking spaces, and our loading zone is being striped preciscely in front of our marquee. We look forward to the completion of this project. While we have reservations on the design done by INDOT, we are extremely pleased with the contractor Milestone Construction on how they communicated and dealt with the Strand. We are always consulted and in the loop. Although it was tough, we knew they were doing their best for us. Thank you to the construction superintendent Kyle for all he has done for the Strand and our neighbors.

We have 15 events this month! We have already hosted 96 events in 2018. Our volunteers are busy. This is because we believe that a great community deserves a great performance venue. This is because of you, thank you! See you at the Strand.

Tonight Friday Night Frights returns. This month we are screening BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965). The movie was filmed in Italy. The US version, which we are showing, runs 74 minutes. This film is a classic example of the Gothic Italian Horror genre. A movie like this would most likely not be made today. Friday Night Frights takes us back to when the Strand was a movie theater, and this was standard late night weekend fare. Join us at 7:30pm tonight for BLOODY PIT OF HORROR.

Tomorrow’s concert by the Cincinnati based group COLLY has been postponed. We hope to have them return in 2019. This is a very talented group and we were one stop on a 40 venue tour. We look forward to hearing their music in the Strand next year.

Next week the Shelby County Players open their production of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST. The play is based on the 1962 novel by Ken Kelsey. In 1963 shortly after the novel debuted, the stage adaptation by Dale Wasserman was produced. Over fifty years of productions have been produced including the 1975 film. The book is considered one of the best American novels of the twentieth century. The title of the book (and play) is derived from a nursery rhyme:

Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,

Apple seed and apple thorn,

Wire, briar, limber lock

Three geese in a flock

One flew East

One flew West

And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST opens on Friday September 28th. Curtain is at 7:30pm. The production runs Friday Saturday and Sunday the first week. Thursday through Sunday the second week. Sunday matinees start at 2pm. We hope you can attend the Players’ presentation of this American theatrical classic.

Drip Drip Drip. Somewhere in the Strand we had a fixture that was left running. How do we know this? Normally our water bill is $40 per month. This month is was $200. This happens more than we would like. Our volunteers are working on a solution to solve this problem.

BOB ZANY is performing on October 13th. You hear Bob on the nationally syndicated radio show Bob & Tom. He is a clever entertainer. This will be his third performance at the Strand. Each time we are amazed and laugh hard. His jokes sometimes take a few seconds to soak in. It will be a great night of comedy by a nationally touring artist right here in downtown Shelbyville. Tickets are available online at BrownPaperTickets.com and locally at Mickey’s T-Mart (cash or check only). Come support our efforts to bring wonderful entertainment to Shelby County. Bob’s comedy is for mature audiences only. The bar is provided by Pasghetti’s and The Fly.

PULP FICTION is on tap for October 26th. This movie by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was nominated for seven Academy Awards. For those who know the film, it is quirky! The title refers to the popular magazine and hardboiled crime novels of the day that know for their graphic violence and punchy dialog. Come have fun with us as we watch PULP FICTION.

This week we had a young performer film her audition tape on our stage. It is always amazing hearing the wonderful music wafting out of the auditorium as they diligently perfect and record the performance. We do this often and it is always fun.

Lot of things good things are happening at the Strand and in Shelby County. Before you come to Friday Night Frights, stop by BBQ & BREWFEST in Downtown Shelbyville. It too is tonight, how convenient!

Thank you for your support. The Strand might be ordinary in our own community, but we are unusual in what we present and how we operate the theater. See you at the Strand!

This was a quiet week at the theater, but a busy week getting things ready. We worked on several projects as well as continued our work for 2019. Our volunteers do a great job keeping things on track and on time.

This week we have two fun things at the theater. On Saturday we will provide that “ah ha” moment and a blast from the past. The Shelbyville High School Class of 1968 will tour the Strand as part of their Fiftieth Reunion Festivities. Think back to 1968…the balcony was open, it was dark, it was private (at least in the back row)… these people have THOSE memories. It will take them back! The Strand is a generational venue and that will be proved once again on Saturday morning. The Class of 1968 had may classmates attend from near and far. One member of the class came back from California!

Sunday we welcome back the SHELBY COMMUNITY BAND for DANCING AT THE STRAND. This will be a great concert and is FREE. The concert starts at 2pm. The Shelby Community Band is our local concert band. They were founded in 1973 by forward thinking members of our community. Now in their 45th year, the band continues to entertain audiences with music from today and yesterday.

Next week we welcome COLLY to the Strand. Their progressive rock will be presented on Saturday September 22, 2018 at 7:30pm.

The Shelby County Players are gearing up for their production of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST. Technical Director Greg Cox has things coordinated with the Strand for a smooth and (hopefully) easy load in. Every time we get another Strand project done, we can count on the Shelby County Players to use it first!

Sometimes we need to do serious things. Once such thing is on the horizon. The Strand has been in operation for 11 years (hard to believe!). We need to revisit and rethink our mantra “Audience Safety, Audience Comfort.” This has served us well. This week we were incented to broaden the statement. Now it will be “Safety, Comfort.” We are starting a comprehensive safety training program for all our volunteers. Although young, we have just enough experience to be sloppy. We aren’t going to get caught in that trap. We have enlisted the help of wonderful business in Shelby County to guide us with our safety training.

The Strand is a place for everyone. The past two weeks we welcomed six new volunteers. We enjoy meeting and getting to know our new family members. They bring a fresh perspective. We do this all because of you, thank you. See you at the Strand!

This past week we had our rescheduled Friday Night Frights. Sure enough, our fans from Muncie made the drive down, again, to see DEEP RED. We appreciate their (and your) loyalty. We followed the showing with Saturday’s concert by Kit Haymond and PRESSED IN BLACK.

Kit was joined by Trent Moss and the FAIRLAND RAMBLERS. Trent did a great first set. It was clean and sharp. Trent is a fine guitar player and singer and has assembled a dynomite group. Kit played the second set with PRESSED IN BLACK. He started with three new songs. Each was catchy, interesting, and all were good tunes. He proceeded to fill the evening with fantastic music from the Strand’s stage. Kit has grown musically since his last concert. We are looking forward to his next concert!

This holiday weekend we took a break. We had an opportunity for a last minute booking on Sunday September 2nd, but being an all volunteer organization we did have the volunteers necessary to hold the concert. As an organization, the Strand is trying to work as far into the future on bookings as possible. There are many details that are required for each and every show.

We had a cancellation for this weekend, so we are dark. We are back on September 12th with our Community Treasure Series. This month the BOY SCOUTS will present about their dynamic and changing organization. We are fortunate to have several Eagle Scouts as volunteers through the years! The lecture starts at 7pm and is free.

The Shelby Community Band returns on Sunday September 16th with DANCING AT THE STRAND. The concert is free and starts at 2pm. We continue on Friday September 21st with Friday Night Frights. This month we are showing the 1965 classic BLOODY PIT OF HORROR.

September 22nd the Strand will host a rock concert on Saturday night by COLLY. This group from Cincinnati is on a midwest tour and we are pleased to welcome them to the Strand.

Cincinnati’s Colly nimbly balance robust song craft and electronic pop ambition, maintaining the perfect push-and-pull among seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum. (Think The 1975 producing Kings of Leon, and you’re halfway there) Formed in 2017, the quintet quietly drummed up a buzz with early acclaim from Alternative Press, Substream Magazine and more in addition to attracting a growing fan base fueled by marathon touring. The groups forthcoming full length debut, I Can’t Sleep at Night [Paid Vacation Records] will illuminate their intimate, idiosyncratic, and infectious style. Join Colly at the Strand Theatre on Saturday, September 22nd as part of their nationwide tour following their recent release of “Shelter Me”.

The Strand is scheduling safety training to reinforce and expand our safe operational practices. We will be focusing on how we deal with heights, ladders, and scaffolding. We will require all groups who use the Strand to adhere to our safety standards. It only takes a second to have a problem. We need to do everything we can to mitigate the chance of an injury at the Strand. We have asked several local businesses to share their safety practices and trainers with us. These businesses have all stepped up and are helping the Strand remain as safe as we are entertaining.

Tonight is FIRST FRIDAYS downtown. The theme for September is the Arts. Many of our friends and performers will be downtown. We hope you will all visit the activities and fun tonight. We are dark, so our volunteers can check it out too!

BOB ZANY brings his funny brand of comedy to the Strand on Saturday October 13, 2018. Bob is clever and witty. We hope you will join us that night for an evening of laughs.

We have fun! This passed week we welcomed several new volunteers to the Strand family. They are helping make our theater special, as it is what our community needs and deserves. Thank you for your support in everything we do. September will be a great month. See you at the Strand!

“How did he do that?” We heard this phrase from almost all our patrons last Saturday night at Mat LaVore’s Mystery & Magic. Our volunteers can honestly say we have no idea how he accomplished the feats on stage. It was a very entertaining, thought provoking, and enjoyable evening. We didn’t know what to expect, and we are still having difficulty grasping what actually happened! We are in talks with having Mat return mid 2019. You will have to see for yourself. It defies description!

Saturday night we welcome back KIT HAYMOND and PRESSED IN BLACK. Kit will be joined by first time Strand performer Trent Moss and the Fairland Ramblers. The concert starts at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at Mickey’s T-Mart or the band members. We will have plenty of tickets at the door. All tickets are $10.

Just added: PULP FICTION – October 26,2018! We had a potential event that night, but the producer decided not to move forward. As such we had a prime Friday night in October. We turned to our de facto odd movie picker and said “what should we show.” Pulp Fiction was at the top of the list! It will be a fun (and quirky) evening!

This week we worked on our sound equipment inventory. After 10 years, our equipment needed sorted, catalogued, and checked. We are most of the way through the project. We are very fortunate to have lots of equipment. We are pleased that we now have a complete serialized inventory of every cable. We use lots of cables! The concert this Saturday should be snap to set up with knowing what and where things are stored. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with this project.

Mainstreet Shelbyville awarded the Strand Theatre a facade grant for professional restoration of our second floor office windows. We uncovered and renovated them in 2008, but it was time to have a professional complete the job. The windows have functioned well, but they are no longer weather tight and have several areas of rot. Jim Wendle of Moscow Millworks will be removing and refurbishing the windows in the coming weeks. We are excited about this project. Once finished we will be able to FINALLY move into our offices! Thank you Mainstreet Shelbyville. The Strand has been a member of Mainstreet since we started in 2007.

We have continued the flurry of bookings for 2019. This week we confirmed Damian McGinty of Celtic Thunder will be returning to the Strand in the Spring. He will be joined by fabulous guitarist Dave Bakey. We look forward to their return. We have also booked a series on Abraham Lincoln based on the anniversary of his assassination. This will include the play “The Day Lincoln Died.” We will continue our Friday Night Frights and Festival Film Series movies. We are adding a 6 month series on war films spanning WWI to the Middle East. It will be an interesting series. We have 90 events booked, only 30 left until was are at our volunteer capacity! If you are interested in using the Strand in 2019, please let us know. You can reply to this email or use the contact section of our web site at www.StrandPAC.org

BOB ZANY COMEDY is returning to the Strand on October 13, 2018. He is funny! Tickets are $20. He is a clever and seasoned comedian. He is a staple on Bob & Tom and you will enjoy his show.

Thank you again to The Shelbyville News and WSVX Radio for the great coverage of Mystery & Magic. They were responsible for selling over half the tickets sold…all in the final 24 hours! We were equally thrilled that both organizations were represented in the audience. They said “How did he do that?”

We have a great time at the Strand. 2018 has many wonderful performances left. We hope you can attend. We do this all because of you, thank you. See you at the Strand!

There is still time! Get your tickets for the Magic, Mind Reading, and Hypnosis show this Saturday night at 7:30PM. Come experience Mat LaVore perform impossible magic, read minds, hypnotize people to forget their own names, and even predict the future in his critically acclaimed “magical masterpiece,” “Magic & Mystery”. Mat LaVore has taken the very best of all the mystery arts and blended them together into one unforgettable show that always leaves audiences astonished long after they leave the theatre!

Mat LaVore has traveled all over the world to study from the very best in the fields of magic, mentalism, and hypnosis, and has been performing for the past 15 years. When asked, Mat told the Strand, “Being able to stand in front of an audience and create a connection with everyone in attendance is really special. My goal is always to give people a very real feeling of mystery and astonishment.”

Don’t miss out on “Magic & Mystery” this Saturday August 25 at 7:30PM. Tickets are still available.

We are tired. Two weeks, two monster setup shows. The King, Killer, and the Man in Black took extensive setup but nothing compared to the Beatles Tribute Concert. Work for the Beatles show started immediately after the KKMIB concert. We had to build a set, refocus our lightings, and most importantly execute a sound plot that was the most extensive we have ever done.

(Warning, tech talk ahead) The set was designed to mimic the Ed Sullivan set in 1964. While not difficult it was very time consuming. A theater should always stock black paint. We are glad we did, as all the framing for the set needed painted black. We utilized our Stage Floor Gray and our wall colors too. When done we accomplished what we needed. David F., Bill W., Bob S., and Floyd N. all worked on the set in three marathon sessions. David’s design worked well.

Our lighting hasn’t been right for several months. We had to focus every lighting instrument to make sure they were exactly as the light plot specified. We also had to refocus (for the first time) all our LED stage lighting. With the addition of a few “specials” or auxiliary lights, we were able to have flexible and varied stage lighting for the concert. The lighting design, which was integral to the set design, came out as planned.

Finally the sound setup. Wow was it a Duesy! It utilized almost all our equipment. In order to even consider booking a concert like the Fun 4 Beatles Tribute, a venue must have the necessary equipment. The band flew in from Florida the day of the show. The only thing they brought were costumes and guitars. Everything else had to be provided by us. First off big thanks to Alan McDaniel and Jeff Sponsel. Alan lent us his 1966 Ludwig Cocktail drum set, identical to the original that Ringo played. He also lent his 12 string Rickenbacker guitar. Jeff lent us his wonderful Roland G8 keyboard. Jeff also helped the band set up the proper sounds from the keyboard. Without those three instruments, we would not been able to have a concert. Thank you Alan and Jeff!

The setup required 8 Direct Input (DI) boxes, 6 vocal mics, 2 drum mics, 5 monitors, 19 XLR cables, 10 ¼” patch cables, 6 boom mic stands, 1 kick drum mic stand, and 6 extension cords. We utilized our upstage and downstage snakes. We had to repatch our monitor sends in our main snake to the sound board, along with providing a send to an in ear monitor. That is a lot of stuff! Steve F. got things set up and Joey G. finished things off. The sound check was extremely technical with technically demanding fine tune requirements. We used 38 of our 40 board channels including our reverb unit. These are all things designed by Ron B. years ago as “must haves” in a performing arts space.

Our only goof was building the platforms for Ringo and not being able to lower our movie screen for Friday Night Frights. We worked hard to get the word out that the FNF movie was cancelled, we didn’t get the job done. We had about 20 patrons arrive on Friday night. Sadly a group from Muncie made the trek down. They were good sports and hopefully will be back on August 31st for the rescheduled showing of DEEP RED (1975) for the missed Friday Night Frights.

Thank you once again to the Shelbyville News and WSVX Radio for helping us market the show. For the Elvis show you might remember we were able to sell 140 ticket in the last 24 hours. For the Beatles show we sold 132 in the last 24 hours. It saved us! We were thrilled with the power of local media. We think the 132 that bought the tickets are glad they did, as it was an over the top show.

After the concert several patrons made the trek to the Skyline Drive-In to watch the 50th anniversary showing of YELLOW SUBMARINE.

Thank you to everyone who attended, Joey G. for getting this show going, and band leader Bryan Wilson (John Lennon) who had faith in the Strand and agreeing to perform in Indiana. Thank you also goes to former Strand Board member Gary Nolley for arranging all the flights back in February. It was a group effort.

This week we inventoried, checked, and labeled our sound equipment. It is a long overdue project, but will make things simpler in the future. We also received word from Coke that we should be ready to move our equipment out of the basement up to the lobby level in a few weeks. We are looking forward to that! We have been fighting a few gremlins, but for now we seem to be winning. Hopefully that trend will continue.

Kit Haymond and his band PRESSED IN BLACK will return to the Strand on Saturday September 1, 2018. It will be nice to welcome Kit back to the Strand’s stage. He will be joined by Trent Moss and the FAIRLAND RAMBLERS. This is a chance to hear both groups in a concert hall setting without any other noises or distractions. We look forward to the concert. Tickets are available at Mickey’s T-Mart (cash or check only) or at the door. Admission is $10.

We are working hard at our 2019 season. We have over 77 performances already booked including the Shelby County Players, the 38th Infantry Division Army Band, a Buddy Holly tribute. It will be a great year.

We hope you have enjoyed our programming. We do it all because of you, thank you! See you at the Strand.